Vision of the floating island
by poisonliz
Summary: Alysses attacks began after the death of her mother. Shunned from her home she goes to live with her uncle who happens to live nextdoor to Urahara's shop. While her attacks increase in pain she has 1 question what does this have to do with the hollows?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Bleach sadly. This story contains a few Ocs so if you don't like that don't read it but if your willing to please give it a chance. Also please Read and review, tell me if you think it's good or rubbish I don't mind (although constructive criticisms would be helpful.) If you have any good ideas of what could happen please tell me (I often get really stuck for ideas after a while.)**

I looked at my suitcase sitting tidily next to me, its contents lacked the evidence that the owner of the small suitcase would not be returning home, that was me. Things had been a little rough lately with my Father being so busy and my younger sister finding out she was the new heir to our family and having no time to do anything besides gloat about it in front of me. My father had always disliked me from the moment of my birth, while my mother was around he would claim he loved me more than the earth itself but when she was not in the room his true intentions were shown. His dislike for me had only greatened after the death of my dearest mother, whose presence was like the beautiful, inspiration of the northern lights to a dying passenger of a sinking ship. I suppose I should have known that her death would be blamed on me, after all who else could he blame but me? He could not blame Ame for she was God's greatest gift to the world (apparently) and everyone should bow to her greatness, even though she was a snotty, stuck up eleven year old with no understanding of the outside world. It was just after my mother's death when it started to happen, after being forced into a reality where in I had killed my mother I began to feel a pain. It began slowly, seeping through my arms and legs like poison until finally it reached my heart, making it beat so fast I was sure my fate was to die there, alone in my bedroom, no one would look for me, no one would find me for days. The second time I had it was in the school bathrooms, each time it happened I did not pass out, I merely watched myself shaking uncontrollably as my heart ran riot within my unstable body. It happened several times after that, each time it got worse until finally my exhaustion would force me not to be able to stand at all. The last time it happened was in my father's untidy study, watched by him and Ame, he had looked more inconvenienced than worried, in fact I was sure this was his plan, a way to get me out of his beautiful home. That night we sat at the dining table together, all three of us in silence, for the first time since my mother's departure to the land of the dead. I sat looking at my hands knowing what it was about.

"Alysse (Alice) I believe it would be best for you if we sent you to your uncles." He said in a kindness that was not real, nor was it fake, it was merely impassionate, a voice used only by actors when forcing kindness. More convenient for you I had thought in an anger I had never felt before.

"Which uncle?" I had replied in a solemn voice, usually he would have shouted at me for speaking when I was not required to, but realised the error of his ways before he spoke again, realising his ambiguity.

"Your Uncle Jiro." Jiro was my father's younger brother and in my fathers view the runt of the family, unworthy of my father's time. I had also never liked Jiro, not because of my father's view of him but Jiro was the type of man who, like my father, manipulated people and spoke ill of those he did not know. I did not let my distaste for the man show on my pale, ill face instead I nodded. This was the reason I was stood at the airport ready to be picked up by my uncle. Despite the fact that I was half Japanese (on my father's side of the family.) I had never visited the country, everything was new to me except for the language, mother and I would often speak it to one another to improve it. Being educated at home while she was alive meant that I learnt a lot more things such as languages, business management (even though I was only at the age of ten, it seemed important to my father that I knew it well.) art, art history and geography (to the point where I could point out minor villages on our map.)

"Ah, there's my favourite niece." Said my Uncle Jiro, as though I had not just basically been exiled from my own house. He was trying to make it so people would not talk, not that it mattered; no one knew that we were from the Hanakura family; we were too bland, too boring to be in the 'magnificent' Hanakura family. "Come now child, do you not speak?" I nodded and apologised in a quiet voice to him, he scowled at me, showing irritation as he normally did with me when we were alone. We got into the car in silence, me not daring to speak for I could feel my heart rate picking up and he just seemed oblivious, keeping his eyes on the quiet road ahead of us. By the time we reached his home my palpitations had stopped and I could feel my body calming again into its normal rhythm. His house was small but homely, with roses winding their way up the house and flowers surrounding the house like a gate, it was like a fairy tale cottage, when I told him so he smiled at me, a really smile this time not a fake one to impress the crowds, I could feel that we may in fact become friends if I stayed honest and kind. Next door to his house, though a little bit away stood a small wooden shop with two children playing (though I suspected that they were supposed to be sweeping due to the brushes they held in their hands.) The young girl looked sweet and innocent with a child like flush in her pink cheeks, while the boy had a fiery attitude to go with his flame red hair.

"Come Alysse or do you wish to stay in the car all day?" Jiro asked me with a smile still plastered on his lips.

"I am sorry." I replied in a more confident voice smiling with equal shine back at him. "I have never been to Japan and so I feel inclined to at least take a little bit of it in before returning in doors." The man laughed again his same chiming laugh, like a large bell sounding.

"You will have plenty of time to take in Karakura town." He laughed but then his eyes darkened and his face too. "But first we must speak of your condition." I looked down at my feet in worry, yes my condition had been getting worse, so bad in fact that last time I had the pain and palpitations I had not removed myself from bed for a day and a half, refusing to eat or have anyone visit me.

"I see." I replied sadly following the man into his fairy cottage of a home.

The inside of the house was more surprising than the outside; it was dressed like a traditional English cottage, with the sweet little plates and the ornaments of farm animals. The table that we sat on with a mug of tea was large and thick, like railroad sleeper or some ones front door.

"Your father" The mention of my father brought a tint of anger to my uncle's calm voice, making me wince at both the mention of the man and the loathing in my uncle's voice. "Has offered me money to keep you." He said keeping no secrets between us, I nodded, and though I had not known this I suspected it to be true. "In return he wants me to make sure you are safe and healthy." This I could see was a lie, his eyes moved from side to side, suspiciously, until finally he found somewhere he could focus on that was not analysing him. "He wishes for you to find out what is wrong with you and if need be he will pay for the operation." This was sadly also a lie and I felt my heart go cold. I looked at the man wondering what I should say or do.

"Tell me Uncle." I said in a kind soft voice, letting him know I was not judging him, he must have a good reason to lie to me. "Did he say I could return?" At this my uncle looked incredibly uncomfortable, I could see his eyes piercing me, wondering what he should do. "I see." I replied before he could get too flustered. "I am sorry that he has forced me upon you dearest uncle, I will leave as soon as possible if you wish for me too." I smiled at him walmingly, letting him know that it was ok if he wanted me to leave, however inside I was screaming 'No, please I do not know where I am! I will be lost and it will happen again!'

"There is no need child." He said as he walked round the table placing a soft hand on my head, in a kind manner. "I am more than honoured to have you at my humble abode." I smiled at him again; turning to hug his tall, thin body with my skinny arms.

"The honour is all mine." I replied my voice muffled by his clothing.

That night I sat in my room, letting the sad tears fall down my cheeks and onto the wooden floor. Only a small lamp lighted the room by my bed, the room was beautiful beyond belief, plain but comfortable, one could put anyone in this room and they would find that it was made only for them. The wardrobe was large and could fit hundreds of clothes in, my seven tops and three pairs of trousers looked lost hung up in such a vast place. I walked to the mirror looking at my tired face in the reflection, my light blond hair had dulled down to a dark brown colour, shaping my face, it fell to my hips but its usual happy sway was gone, instead it hung loosely in thick lumps making me look as though I had not Brushed it. My blue eyes had turned from their baby blue colour to a near magenta, which I though humanly impossible. My usual plump lips were dry and ugly looking. My skin, strangely enough was the only thing unaffected, still pale and soft as it had always been, though it had gained a grey colour. As I turned towards my bed I noticed something strange, a creature looming over the shop, its black skin was like thick ink, the only part of it that was not black was its face, which was covered with a dense white mask, with prominent teeth and eyes that seemed to glow yellow. It was then that I felt it, my body stiffened painfully, my legs giving way beneath me forcing me to collapse to the floor, hitting my head with a loud BANG. My body began to shake uncontrollably, unable to breath, unable to shout and unable to move. My heart started beating so fast it felt as though it would break my ribs. My arms numbed and my head span as my eyes began to close painfully. I did not hear my uncle come in, it was more like I felt him, in my minds eye I could see a small blue light, like an orb coming from where he was, stood over me telling me I was ok. Then everything went black. That was the first time I have ever been in an ambulance, and I did not like it one bit.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Bleach sadly. This story contains a few Ocs so if you don't like that don't read it but if your willing to please give it a chance. Also please Read and review, tell me if you think it's good or rubbish I don't mind (although constructive criticisms would be helpful.) If you have any good ideas of what could happen please tell me (I often get really stuck for ideas after a while.)**

I must have been forced into a sleep by the medicine that they gave me, or it could have been the unbelievable pain that caused me to fall into my restless slumber. I could feel that I was in a dream, knowing that though the things I saw and did felt real they did not feel as they should. The wind that whipped across my skin was more painful than the real gentle wind that pushed at the body with force rather than tiny needles. I felt my bare feet on the prickly grass beneath them, I did not know where I was going, nor did I know where I had been, the excess of mist made sure of that, forcing me into a strange kind of blindness, one that was both comforting and frightening. It was then, when I walked no more than ten steps forwards that I noticed her, she looked as she had when she was alive, warm, gentle and her eyes sparkling with a joy that I could not perceive, her hair just like mine hung down her back, though hers was bright and moved like the wind, so beautifully, I wanted to touch it, I wanted to feel it so I could remember again. I knew that I had forgotten her face though she had only been dead for a year and half. I walked to her wanting to see her, wanting to speak with her, selfishly I wanted her to tell me her death was not my fault.

"My dearest Alysse." She whispered in that voice that I knew, soft and light like an angel's song. "You have forgotten me." She said sadly. I shook my head, tears welling in my eyes, how could I forget her? True, my father would not suffer any of her pictures being on show but I could not forget her, maybe I could forget her face but I knew I would recognise her as soon as I saw her again.

"No." I replied sadly shaking my head vigorously. At this she patted the grass next to her, summoning me to be by her side.

"Did you forget who you were?" she asked again, this time it was no more than a question, her face turned to me showing all of the features that I now remembered clear as day. "Did you forget the blood that runs through your veins?" I shook my head again, how could I forget my forebears? It was not possible. Her eyes looked kindly down at me. After a moment or two of silence she let out a long heavy sigh, one that I was not accustomed to from her. "Perhaps I forgot to tell you my dearest Alysse, when I was alive I was so careless like that, please forgive me for not realising my departure from this world would come so soon." I looked at her, letting a tear slip from my chin to the floor beneath me. It was only when my tear hit the floor that the mist disappeared, forming a sky. What we sat on was no more than a giant piece of floating rock, flying above a magnificent city where in there were beautiful white houses guarded only by a wall. The city was a little bit like a castle though not quite and at the centre stood a large tower with only one window. Down below us I could see tiny men dressed all in black pointing at us and shouting at one another, how strange I thought wondering what on earth they were doing here in my dream.

"Where are we?" I asked looking at the woman sat next to me, her beautiful white kimono showing no signs of dirt even though it billowed out around her legs making her look like a bride or a princess.

"Do you like it here?" She asked. I looked at her, what a strange question, we had been here for so little time it was almost impossible for me to form an opinion of the place.

"It is very beautiful, though I worry what lies beyond the wall." I stated, as if told what to say, in fact I had not really noticed what was beyond the wall at all.

"Yes." She replied thoughtfully. "I have not been here for a long time." She confessed. I wanted to ask her a million questions now, what was this place? Why had she not been here in a while? Should she have been here? But I was cut off by another depressed sigh. "I fear that you will not be here much longer my dearest Alysse, give your uncle my love." And with those words spoken I slipped into darkness only to awaken to a hospital room.

My uncle sat in a chair near my bed asleep, his light snores were the only thing that told me he was there, I was too busy wondering why I was here. For a while I watched the tall balding man who was so obviously too large for the small chair. After several minutes though I craved answers, why was I here? What had happened? Then it came back to me and I felt the exhaustion sweep over me again. But something nagged at me while I lay on the brink between sleep and wake, there had been something stood over that shop but I could not remember what it was all I knew was that it was important. It was like all the other times, I always saw something and every time when I woke up I would no longer no what it was, as though my brain was locking it away so that I could not search for it, which would be highly unlikely.

After several hours in the hospital my doctor claimed me to be fine and though he admitted that he thought I was having a heart attack at first on a later inspection he found that such a thing was not possible. Jiro and I got a taxi back from the house and though he talked animatedly about how relieved he was I could not bring myself to look at him, I had wasted his time and his money just to find out I was fine, when I explained this to him he told me that he did not mind, though I suspected that he did, deep down. The taxi dropped us off at the end of the street. On passing the shop I could not held but stop, images flashed in my mind of the thing, yet all I saw in my mind was a black smoke.

"Are you feeling better Alysse-san?" I turned my head to see the young girl skipping over to me a shy look in her eyes, carrying what I guessed to be her signature brush.

"Yes, thank you…" I stopped realising that I did not know her name. She corrected me immediately.

"Ururu." She replied her eyes shining happily.

"Thank you for your concern." I beamed at her kindly and at this she blushed profusely.

"Ah, I see you're looking a lot better Alysse-chan." I looked at the man who had, some how walked out off the shop without me even noticing his presence, perhaps I was just not concentrating at all. The man was in no way ugly, in fact he was gorgeous though the hat he wore was strange and reminded me of one that you get from cheesy parties. He was a little… Rough I suppose with his stubbled chin and strange clothes. I caught myself before I did something embarrassing or dishonourable.

"Thank you, I am feeling a lot better." I replied smiling at him though I knew he did not buy it.

"Tell me did the doctor find out what was wrong?" He asked nosily, if this had been anyone else I would have been furious with their interest in my personal affairs but this man was different some how, I did not know why but I wanted to tell him just to hear his reply.

"No." I replied. "They thought it was a heart attack but when they tested again this morning they found out it was not." I said. My eyes held no worry, I did not fear death, I had been so ready to die the first time it happened yet I could not help but wonder if I truly was ready, if my last breath would be one of anger or whether I would be ok with leaving this world.

"Hmm…" The man said, his face was no more troubled than my own, I was suree that within time he would have replied and the reply would have been one of interest, however at that moment my uncle interrupted.

"Forgive me Urahara-san but I fear that Alysse is tired and in desperate need of rest." My dear uncle looked at me checking me over, noticing the frightening bags under my eyes. "Despite her lack of complaint." I silently laugh at him, not cruelly more out of happiness, I am happy that he cares enough to worry for my well-being. We said our goodbyes then headed back to the fairy tale cottage.

That night was a quiet event as it often seemed to be when Jiro was thinking, though I did not mind it gave me time to collect my own scattered thoughts.

"Perhaps you need something to take your mind off it." He stated, I looked up from my rice that I had been picking at for over five minutes now. I looked at him confused. "Perhaps a hobby or just something that will make you feel relaxed." We both thought for a moment before I spoke cautiously to him as he busied himself with folding his napkin.

"Do you have any of my mother's books?" I asked, he looked up suddenly as if electrocuted by the thin napkin that he held between his fingers. "From when she came to stay." I told him, at this he calmed down though I worried, what was he hiding? Was my mother not supposed to come here to see him? Was I not supposed to know?

"Yes, in the study." He replied keeping his face pointed at the table so that I could not see his expression.

The study was magnificent, just what was expected of a fairy tale cottage, uncle Jiro had many books though all of them were old and tattered with leather bound fronts. It seemed that some of the books were neither English nor were they Japanese, I noticed this as my eyes passed over a familiar word though if asked I could not place it, possibly my mother had mentioned it to me when she was alive 'Quincy' My eyes finally passed over a shelf full of fine, well kept books, recognition sparked in my eyes as I lifted one.

'Property of: Elizabeth Hanakura.' My mothers name lay in the first page, written in an elegant script that was both beautiful and perfect in every letter. I picked up the books that were hers and took them to my room. When I got to the dimly lit room I threw myself onto the bed opening the first book I had picked up. It was a strange little book, all about spiritual pressure and those who have opposite spiritual pressure; the book was heavily annotated with both my mother's elegant script and another clumsy one that fitted around the edges of paragraphs. 'Dark spirits' was crossed out and the word 'Hollow' replaced it above the line of printed writing. I flicked through the other books and found that the same two forms of handwriting were there also.

That night after I had read ten pages of one of my mother's books I got into bed, though I could not sleep. I closed my eyes and watched as a distant red light in my mind grew, it was not large, nor did it feel close it was just there. Then yet again it happened, this time not so bad, a slight increase and shaking caused me panic. Deep into the night I swore I could hear an inhumanly shriek.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own bleach sadly. Sorry for the spelling mistakes in the last chapter. Please read and review if you don't like it tell me and if you do please tell me. No flames but I would not be angry at constructive criticisms. **

I dreamt of the hovering island that my mother and I had spoken on in my last dream. She was stood this time, still taller than I and still more beautiful. I walked over to her cautiously, questioning her in my mind, though I feared that she would not answer if I truly asked.

"You have found my books?" She asked, though it was not really a question, it was more of a statement yet still open for me to deny or agree.

"Yes." I replied, my head bowed, I did not know if I was supposed to have read her books or not. As I watched her, my head still bowed a smile worked its way across her plump lips.

"I had feared that you would not find them, that your…" She halted for a second trying to decide an appropriate word a frown worked its way onto her lips but left only seconds later, she nodded more to herself than me. "Father would not let you go. Do not be angry at him, he was weak." She said, though none of it made any sense to me, she was speaking in riddles to me, hoping that I would understand, I did not.

"Why?" I asked my voice a barely audible whisper, carried to her ears only by the rough wind that whipped around us.

"That is something I cannot tell you my dearest Alysse." Her voice was full of sadness and regret, as though all she really wanted to do was help me. "But my dearest Alysse," She said after a moment or two of silence "know this, carry it with you always and hold onto it in times of grief, you will always be my Alysse no one else." As these words came out of her lips a black mist came over my eyes, forcing me back to my drained, unconscious body.

I woke with a start, feeling a stinging in my eyes, when I lifted my fingers to touch them they felt wet, it had been tears, but why? That morning was slow, dragging by as though it did not wish to leave, I read some more of my mother's books while at the breakfast table (My uncle had gone back to work, though not without a fight, I had to promise to try to slow my heart rate down should I feel another attack coming on.) The book illustrating different types of beings 'Quincies', 'Shinigamis', 'Hollows' and 'Wholes'. It was a fairly wonderful fictional book, almost making the readers believe in the stories that it told. 'Quincies, though powerful in both long range and short range attacks cannot send hollows to soul society and as such are not seen as useful unlike the shinigamis.' I read this in my head several times trying to work out why it was familiar to me. I could not help but feel sorry for the quincies, what were they to do in their line of work? I had an image in my head of a quincy, strong and proud with a bow in one hand and a knife in the other, though I believe that my view was tainted with an image of an elf or other such proud creature. The book actually illustrated the weapons that each used. When talking about the hollows it began to speak of two different beings, related to shinigami: Vizards and Arrancar, though it did not go into detail, it merely stated that not a lot was known of these strange beings only the hollow within them. The zanpakutou was the one weapon that caught my eye; if I had not been brought up as I had I might have exclaimed 'cool!' though that was against my teachings. The start of the afternoon passed much as the morning did, though I sat outside in the beautiful sun and let it warm my pale, ill skin. I could hear small footsteps padding along the grass towards me, I turned slightly to see Ururu looking embarrassedly at me.

"Jiro-san asked that I come see you." She said her face brightening with a red blush. I smiled kindly at her, despite my exhaustion I felt a lot better.

"I am feeling much better Ururu-san thank you for your concern." I said smiling warmly at the girl. She must have noticed the book I held in my hand for she looked at me questioningly.

"What are you reading?" She asked, still a little shy and embarrassed but with a little more confidence.

"A fairy tale book my mother left here." I admitted, blushing slightly, she seemed to notice my embarrassment and allowed the subject to drop. "Would you like something to drink?" I offered her sweetly; I could not help finding this girl adorable, she reminded me of someone though I could not place who it had been or where the person had resided.

"Actually I was here to offer you some food." She said quietly with a warm smile planted on her blushing face. I took the offer not wanting to offend her. She smiled happily and told me what we would be eating, it was rather mediocre sounding, white rice with fish. She had prepared the lunch herself, or so she told me. The shop was normal inside as she slid back the door, normal foods and sweets laid on the shelves, it was as though I wanted it to be strange, to be as I felt it should be inside, perhaps I had been reading my book too long. As I walked to the table I saw the little boy with the red hair, Urahara-san, a man wearing an apron and a man with red hair tide up so it spiked at the end, he was covered with tattoos, even on his forehead. I could not help but stare despite the fact that I knew how rude I was being, I had never seen someone willing to soil their own face with ink.

"What are you looking at?" He said angrily, well at least that is what I think he said for he said it with his mouth full of rice. I blushed a bright red and apologised.

"Don't listen to him Alysse-chan he's just a scrounger." Stated Urahara-san with a wide smirk on his face, his eyes still hidden by the ever-present hat. The man seemed to glare at Urahara for a moment before turning to me his eyes full of surprise.

"So your Alysse?" He said looking almost excited, I stared at him bewildered, why was my name something of importance? Unless he knew that I was a Hanakura. "Renji." He said again stuffing his mouth full of rice and holding a sticky hand out for me to shake. I touch it half-heartedly and with a slight twitch.

"Pleasures all mine." I said with a slight lie in my voice. We waited until after lunch when we all began talking animatedly about different things, I spoke with Ururu and Jinta (the little boy with red hair.) they seemed rather close yet Jinta seemed to enjoy picking on Ururu but she would never fight back. It brought back memorise, when I first went to school, before my mother home schooled me I used to get into a lot of fights, I had a sense of justice but I did not know how to apply it at that age, it caused my father's dislike to grow but my mother would always say that I was right in knowing that it was wrong but in what I was doing I was also wrong. I cannot say that I did not get into more fights as I grew up, but I fought only when all my other options were drained leaving only that one. I looked at Ururu sweetly knowing that she dealt with it better than I would have done. It was in this trail of thought that I heard the front door slam shut and hurried footsteps running towards us with urgency. Our door finally opened to reveal an orange haired man, followed by a short dark haired girl, a long ginger haired girl and a dark haired man with glasses.

"Uruhara-san." The girl with the dark hair said sounding like she was in charge yet I felt that it was highly probable that the orange haired man was in charge.

"Uruhara." The orange haired man said with an air about him that said he would be the one speaking and we would listen, removing all doubt, he was the one in charge. He paused for a moment as his eyes fell on me. "Who the hells she?" He asked his voice taking me aback, no one had ever spoken to me in such a manner.

"This is Alysse Hanakura." He said looking at the man meaningfully. The dark haired man stared at me in disbelief, as did the girl with dark hair, the only other girl positively beamed at me giggling a little, I liked her right away.

"It can't be." The dark haired man said as though he had found the Holy Grail or some sacred remedy. Somehow I felt drawn to the dark haired man, his voice was familiar but not in how it sounded more in… how it felt, there was a type of energy that came from him when he spoke and I recognised it, it was like coming home after being lost for many generations but I stopped the feeling abruptly throwing it into the back of my mind in anger, I would deal with this later. After a few introductions we sat around the table silently. It took several minutes before Ichigo spoke

"I have something I need to speak to you about." I could sense that the others in the room knew of this something and feeling that I was only getting in the way of their private discussion I made an excuse and left hurriedly.

That night after tea I began to read the fairy tale my mother used to read to me many years before, I first looked at the pictures, it was strange how the characters from this book looked a lot like the ones from her fictional book I had been reading earlier today. I could not help but lay my fingers over the picture of the quincy feeling forlorn and alone, more so than I had ever felt in my life.


	4. Chapter 4

I turned back to the first page again after looking at the fantastic illustrations and began to read the fairy tale that was st

**I do not own bleach sadly. Please read and review if you don't like it tell me and if you do please tell me. No flames but I would not be angry at constructive criticisms. If you think anything should happen tell me I get stuck sometimes with my ideas so anything would be appreciated :D**

I turned back to the first page again after looking at the fantastic illustrations and began to read the fairy tale that was strangely named '_The history of life and death.' _ It was a tale my mother had told me many times, I used to dislike the tale telling her I did not want to hear it again, I remember how it used to make me feel lonely and I disliked the fact it was not written like my other books, then when I grew up a little, possibly a little too old for story books I requested it, my mother did not seem to be surprised in fact she was happy, I can still remember the smile on her face as she read it.

'_Once upon a time when the world was still new, when the living only just began to part to the land of the dead. When the humans began to die the gods exclaimed that there must be another life, one of fairness and justice.' _The picture showed a beautiful castle full of happy people smiling and laughing with one another. I turned the page and began to read on, noting the picture of a black beast with a white mask attacking a human. _'Soon the humans became selfish creatures wishing for power over others, some of them even went as far as forcing their power on each other. The gods were angry at such foolishness and denied these cruel creatures entry to the afterlife, however the other life had already been tainted with selfish beings, these beings created a distance between the strong and the weak, claiming themselves to be the gods of the afterlife. The souls of the evil left in the living world became horrible monsters as a punishment, however the gods did not realise that such beings needed a life support and so came a time when the monsters ruled over the earth.' _I turned over the page feeling a shudder at the thought of such beings, though the book was a little too bizarre to be real. _'The gods became worried at such problems, never before had they been given rule over two worlds. Aramus the god of justice came up with a solution, making one being that would destroy the monsters and bring those who ruled in the afterlife to justice. Each of the gods put in what they thought the being should be: kind, generous, honourable, loving, strong and truthful. So came about the time of the Velances, however the Velances became ill due to the monsters spirits, such beings could not understand such evil.' _I looked at the picture, it was that of a beautiful young woman with shining blond hair, around her was a ring of gold, the monster in front of her was obviously going to kill her the way it held its claws, I almost wanted to scream for her, but I knew it was not true, it was just a fictional book and the woman did not really die.

_'So the gods made a new being one to protect the dying Velances and destroy the monsters. At first the beings did not know what they were to do with their powers, they had so much power but no way to use it. The leader of the beings, Kane, came up with a way to use spears of their spirit. After many decades of the beings fighting, enhancing their skills so that they could use them against the monsters, but the gods realised that the afterlife was crumbling, the monsters were not going through the barrier of death and so they set about creating a new being.' _I looked at the beings that looked so much like the Quincies from the other fictional book; it was almost a relief to know that they had another job that they could fall back on they were not useless beings. I let my finger touch the man whom I thought must be kane, as he held a spear that was three times his size while the others held smaller spears, they looked so amazing, they were covered with a light blue light and their spears were also made of the strange light, coming up in a point.

I turned the page over again. _'The gods knew not what to do. Finally they decided to offer the strongest spirits a chance to fight against the monsters, only a few of them accepted, the strongest and bravest of the souls. The gods gave them swords to fight with, telling them that only when they understood the swords as their own souls, only then would they become stronger. At first the souls did not do their job as they should, many of them disappeared to be reincarnated, some of them were eaten by the monsters. With the few men that were left the souls became powerful, they began to know their own souls and as such their swords began to grow more powerful. After a struggle a leader was elected to rule over these spirits and to help destroy the monsters.'_ I looked fascinated at the picture, what it depicted finally making sense. In the middle of the picture a man was stood with a leopard by his side, he had no sword but he did have some claws attached to his hands. The other spirits around him all had swords that were strange, not as normal as the original sword and each of them had a person or animal that stood by their side. I looked for a moment, admiring all of the beautiful weaponry in the picture before turning over the page.

_'The gods were not upset with their decisions. They elected their own supreme god to rule over them. Next they gave one being the ability to rule over the entire spirit world. The new king of the spirit world gave the Velances, his second in command, the power to reign over both life and death. The beings that were sent after the Velances swore to protect them from all evil. Finally the spirits that fought against the monsters began to build a fortress, pronouncing themselves kings and queens of the spirit world. The gods decided that they would no longer make new beings and so merely watched, sealing their powers away.' _I looked at thee different pictures; it was like an illustrated flow chart, though strangely the king of the spirit world was not shown.

_'Things remained peaceful for many generations, until the princess of the Velances, Naomi fell in love with one of her guards, an ancient ancestor of Kane. Finally she became pregnant with a half-breed child. The king of the spirit world was infuriated, as he had been promised the hand of Naomi and so he exiled the Velances and their guards, however before this happened he had both Naomi and her guard executed for their betrayal. Her child was never found, though the king wished to remove it from existence.' _I let my tears fall, unaware of why I was crying, I felt sad for the king because he must have loved her, but the pain I felt for the child and its parents was one I could not describe. The picture was one of a little baby with dark hair and light blue eyes, its parents stood next to each other, Naomi holding the baby to the light, her sun blond locks almost touching the floor, with a tiara made of gold and red flowers that sat firmly on her head, a similar one was on the babies head. The man with whom she had the child with stood next to her smiling, his hair was short and unkept. He stood several inches above his wife and had a protective arm around her, while another one held a bow that shone with a blue light. Around them stood both the Velances and the quincies (what I had decided to call them to avoid any confusion.) The longer I stared at the picture the more I felt as though I was there, I could hear the cheer of the merry quincies and the laughter of the graceful Velances. Finally after almost five minutes staring at the page I turned it over and read on._ 'The gods were furious with the king declaring that his selfish actions had destroyed what little balance was left and so the king was stripped of his powers, though he still had the power to make a decision if the spirits called for it. The gods then gave the spirits all of the power; they gave them the power of moving the spirits on through the gate of death, a job that was previously occupied by the Velances. Yet again life was peaceful in the world of the dead, until the spirits, who foolishly called themselves the gods of death made a wall, separating themselves from the weaker spirits and allowing no one in.'_ I chuckled darkly at the page thinking how ironic it was that the quincies or the Velances were not given the power over the spirit world. I looked at the picture, the souls were now dressed in black, standing high and proud over the other souls who were bowing to them. I turned over again to find the last page in the book; it only had a few lines. __

'And so began the age of the shinigami. The beings that guarded the Velances separated themselves from their 'rulers' and began a life fighting against the monsters to show that they were more powerful than anyone and the Velances began a life within society, hiding themselves from the shinigami and becoming one with the humans. Some of the Velances protectors remained with the Velances but in less than three hundred years the tradition stopped.' I finally closed the book with a heavy sigh, what a funny little story, it reminded me so much of the 'Just so stories' that claimed an understanding of why something happened, in truth though the book was depressing, who wanted to think about death when we were still alive? I lay down on the bed thinking of both the 'quincies' and the 'velances', why was it so wrong that they should have children? Surely a child that was both able to fight the monsters and able to have power over life and death was a welcoming factor. I thought about this well into the night before I began to dream again.

I was with my mother again. She stood before me smiling happily.

"You have read the fairy tale book?" She said with laughter in her voice. I nodded, feeling silly, I was no longer a child I had no reason to read such idiocies. "Then you know?" She asked again, I turned to her, having been distracted by the sheer height of the floating island. I looked at her questioning her, it was just a fairy tale book nothing more, there is nothing I could have gained from such a book.

"Know what?" I asked in a less than well-presented voice. She stared at me shocked, as though puzzle pieces should have fallen into place when I read the book.

"Where we are, what we are, who you are. Do you not know?" She asked, a slight panic in her voice. "We are running out of time Alysse you must remember." By this point she had grabbed my shoulders and was shaking me, she was not as my mother had been, she was not gentle and graceful but desperate and rough, and if this had been real I would have had bruises on my shoulders from her vice like grip.

"Let go of me!" I shouted pushing her away from me and barely missing the edge of the island as I stumbled backwards. "Why have you brought me here!?" I shouted losing my self-control, letting the anger that I had internalised for so long erupt from me like a volcano. "Why did you die? Why did you let him think I killed you?! How could you?! How dare you?!" I threw myself to the floor letting my sobs rack my body, the pain in my sides almost unbearable as I did so.

"I brought you here so you would remember. I was so proud to have a daughter who had ties with-." I was listening intently to her from my spot on the floor facing the sharp grass when I felt a hand on me, shaking me, a hand that was not there.

"Alysse. Alysse. Are you ok? Can you hear me?" A voice without a body shouted. The disembodied voice began to get desperate, pleading for me to wake up.

My eyes opened to see my dearest uncle Jiro above me, his eyes full of tears and his face stricken with panic. I looked at him through eyes filled with tears.

"I-I-I t-thought y-you were d-d-dead." He cried into me, I felt uncomfortable, why did he think I was dead.

"Why did you think that I was dead?" I whispered hugging him to me as though he were a child of my own woken from a terrible dream.

"You were not breathing." He whispered, barely adible as though saying it would make it more real, his breathing fast with sobs still escaping him, though I could tell he was trying to gain control over his show of feelings. My eyes widened at his statement as I felt a pure shock go through my system, I had been dead, for how long? Had this happened before? But I was dreaming so surely I was not dead, no he made a mistake that's right a mistake…


	5. Chapter 5

"Has she accepted her fate?" A cloaked man asked a beautiful woman dressed in a flowing white kimono, the woman remained staring out from the island at the soul society that lay below.

"No, she refuses to remember who she is… I am running out of clues." The woman's eyes directed themselves to the grass beneath her feet, as if the normal grass had suddenly become interesting beyond belief.

"We are running out of time Alayna!" The man replied, though his voice showed no signs of fear or desperation.

"Hush, Dhul-san, saying such a name here could cause suspicion. Can we not simply tell her what she is… who she is?"

"Alayn- I beg your pardon my lady… Elizabeth-San, her powers will peak soon enough, when it does we need her on our side, however telling her who she is could cost us our victory over this mundane place." He said moving his arms as if to reveal the soul society to Elizabeth for the first time. "If she does not become enlightened within three days from now we will… collect her from her uncles and return her to us." He said turning away from the young Velance and returning to his mate whom was sat on a rock with her legs crossed looking as beautiful as possible, but being out shone by the young mother.

_**Alysse's point of view**_

I suppose it was the first time I had ever really spoken with my uncle, we spoke of my mother until mornings first light, at which point I returned to my books and my uncle went about getting ready for work. During our talk my uncle had asked what I had been dreaming about…

_Flashback_

"I heard you shout in your sleep, I was worried incase you were having another anxiety attack… Tell me my dearest Alysse what was it that you were dreaming of?" I looked at him for a moment, unable to respond, I had dreamt of my mother of course, as I had every night since I had been here.

"I dreamt of my mother." I told him all of the details, the floating island, and the men in black clothes, her desperation, I felt stupid but after all it was only a dream, it did not mean anything.

"Ah, I see." He replied with a knowing look after I had finished, as though he had experienced the same thing, though his eyes told me he had not. "How is your mother doing?" He asked as though it were something that could be told from an irrelevant dream, I decided to humour him, after all whatever game we were playing it might help us get over the shock of my momentary 'death'.

"She is fine, a little stranger than I remember but still she looks the same." My uncle smiled at this again in a knowing way.

"When your mother used to stay here she would suffer similar dreams, she would curse this place every time she left." He smiled at what I thought was a rather strange memory but to him it was something full of happiness. "And every time she left she would come back a month later saying she needed a piece of mind. She believed in her dreams, saw them as real." He looked at me again his eyes full wisdom that I could not comprehend. "Trust your mind my little niece, it would not lie to you." At that he stood up, kissed my head and left to get ready. I sat for a while thinking of what he said, 'trust my mind?'

_End of flashback_

I tossed the last book aside, next to the other books, they all sat discarded on the seat next to my bed. What was I to do? 'Trust my mind'? Minds could be tricked just as easily as a child could be tricked into magic and yet magic did not exist, I knew this, I could prove it and yet some how I held this hope, this dream that once upon a time I was a Velance, a beautiful Velancean princess. In my younger days, when my mother was still alive and my father still loved me a tiny bit I had dreams. I had dreams that I had powers unimaginable to my sister and father, my mother and I were not part of this cruel world but a world that was fruitful and happy. But dreams were only dreams. I let my toes touch the floor first before finally shimmying off the bed and onto the floor, firmly on my feet. I walked to my uncle's library, annoyed that the books in my room were of no interest to me.

My mother's shelf was empty, I had taken all of the books upstairs and discarded them unlovingly. In what I thought might have been a cat like manner, I scraped my hand along the back of the shelf. It felt strange, hollow. I ran my fingers over it again and felt it move ever so slightly when I touched the right side, I pushed a little harder and a tiny bit of wood, no longer than a book came undone, I pulled it out curiously. Examining it I could tell it was no more than a piece of spray painted wood, made to look like the back of the shelf, but why? Why was there something to hide here in my uncle's less than exciting home? I scraped my hand around the back again and found something soft and bendy like a child's book. I pulled it out looking at it. It was the most beautiful leather bound book I had ever seen in my entire existence, no words marred the front of the soft red book, nor the thin spine that held many creases, telling the only thing it could, it had been loved in its day. It was dusty making the rich blood red slightly dimmer than it should have been. I opened the first page not wanting to rip it with my excitement, I felt like an archaeologist finding out the name of some ancient king or queen that lived in the dug up castle.

'_Name: Elizabeth Alayna Rosandrala/ Hanakura' _My mother's maiden name and married name, I looked intrigued, this was a diary, my mother's diary, dare I read it. It would be dishonest if I did and yet she was dead and could not complain, I wanted to know about her… I would read a page I thought, compromising with myself. Putting the piece of wood back into its place I ran up the stairs and into my room in record time, closing the door with a quick snap and throwing myself onto my bed like an excited child, I held the prize in my hands. I opened the book to the second page, skipping any more introductions on the first page. I took a moment to admire the scrawling writing of my mother; it had not changed since her youth. I stared at the page a little longer, basking in another memory of my beloved best friend and mother.

'_Dear diary,_

_I have been having the most disturbing attacks during the day and night now and I have become terribly worried about the cause of them. My mother tells me not to worry, the attacks are apparently part of my nature, I think she is a sadist. It happened yesterday during lunchtime at my school and I was terribly embarrassed, I was sent home due to my illness. So I have decided to write this diary in order to record my attacks._

_My mother gave me a book to read; she said I would enjoy it though I have to disagree. It is terribly childish and most embarrassing 'The history of life and death.' It is a picture book of some ones idea of the after life though it is obviously a lie and not even a peaceful thought, an afterlife where one must fight to survive, if that exists then I shall not go there. _

_I had yet another panic attack when I was at home this afternoon, my mother is unconcerned, perhaps I should inform the authorities surely she lacks paternal instincts._

_All the best_

_Elizabeth Rosandrala_

_Xxx'_

**Urahahra's shop**

They sat around staring at each other, wondering what to say. The host of the tension filled party sat smiling as though he felt nothing, his hat covering his eyes.

"So." Ichigo said finally in a business attitude. "What is this prophecy about?" There was a mumble of agreement to his question around the small, compact table, Kon got up and shouted what he thought might be an encouraging _'yeah'_ the other shinigami, quincy and… well fairy powered girl sat looking at the host with eyes filled with wonder.

"I should probably start at the beginning." The host admitted, sipping his tea with no urgency. "It all started when the gods created the earth…" The man said, beginning a story he had not told in over seventy years, though perhaps he had told that young woman it when she had come to see her brother-in-law many years before.


End file.
